Evan F. Moore: ‘Game of Thrones’ plot point mirrors divide in America

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Aug 4, 2017 at 1:43 PMAug 4, 2017 at 1:43 PM

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During July 30’s episode of the popular HBO TV series “Game of Thrones,” Tyrion Lannister, Hand of the Queen, told Jon Snow, the King in the North, “People’s minds aren’t made for problems that large.”

Lannister was referring to Snow’s adamance that the war everyone in the Seven Kingdoms ought to focus on should be the one against the undead army known as the White Walkers, not the nations’ battle for the continental seat of power, the Iron Throne. He was saying that the people in their world would have a hard time believing that their “problems” seemed small compared to others — that since the zombie apocalypse seemed unfathomable, it couldn’t be true.

Sound familiar?

If you’ve been paying attention to the political discourse in America, as well as in Westeros, you’ve seen a fair amount of “All Lives Mattering” of Snow’s repeated warnings.

Lannister’s words to Snow got me thinking about the current political climate that bred All Lives Matter and Blue/Police Lives Matter, along with the current presidential administration. Those movements and hashtags popped up when people who subscribed to the theory of Black Lives Matter got a rise out of the aforementioned groups. The pushback was visceral, and they got a loud minority of people to take up their cause. Now, the talk on many pro-police websites, chatrooms and Facebook fan pages says that if you are against the police, then you are for the criminals.

Lannister could be talking about many of the people who subscribe to the “criminal” theory — their minds aren’t made for larger problems. Many of these All Lives Matter supporters believe that black people exaggerate claims of widespread racism, while they, the All Lives Matter folks, don’t bother to lift a finger to look into those claims.

And in President Donald Trump’s case, he got a segment of our population to believe that they were mistreated and left behind by the Obama administration, and that Trump was the answer to their problems. Suddenly the conversation was about whose side would win, rather than what was best for the country as a whole.

Lannister’s words should give pause to all of us who love this country, and who realize its future is bigger than our individual wants.

We should mandate that our elected officials see the bigger picture, and make decisions based on information from many walks of life, not just the ones they see immediately in front of them.

— Evan F. Moore is a syndicated columnist with GateHouse Media. He writes about the intersection of race, violence and culture. His work has been featured in Rolling Stone, Chicago Tribune and Ebony. Follow him on Twitter @evanfmoore.